Industrial lubricants are more and more shifting to synthetic base oils. These synthetic base oils pose formulation and performance problems different from those dealt with in mineral oil based compositions. There is also an ever increasing demand for higher levels of performance from lubricant users, forcing manufacturers and formulators to develop technology that can offer even small yet important improvements in performance and/or a better balance of performance properties.
It is common for synthetic industrial lubricants to include a compatibiliser, including industrial lubricants formulated with synthetic base oils. These compatibilisers are intended to maintain product stability. Some polyol esters are commonly used as compatibilisers in industrial lubricants.
However, these esters have been shown to either contribute to, or fail to mitigate, serious storage stability and/or paint compatibility and/or seal compatibility issues with the synthetic industrial lubricants in which they are used.
There is an ongoing need from improved synthetic industrial lubricants that have a better balance of storage stability and/or paint compatibility and/or seal compatibility performance.